Improver



J. B. ATWATER.

Projectile. No. 37,891. Patented March 17, 1863.

N. PETERS PHOTWLITHOGRAPH ER, WASHINGTON D C llrvirnn Srrarns PATENT @rrien.

J. B. ATVATER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEM'ENT IN PROJECTILES FOR RIFLED ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. it'fififitl, dated March 17, 1863.

lb all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. Arwarnn, of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Projeetiles; and I hereby declare that the following is a true and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 represents the body of my projectile, which is cast in one piece with grooves to receive the flanges of the wedges. and with openings through the base to admit the plungers. Fig. 2 is a view of the wire web. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the projectile, showing the wire-cloth, the lead belt, and the wedge and plunger. Fig. 4: is an end View of the base of the projectile. Fig. 5 is a side view or section of the plunger. Fig. 6 is aperspective view of one of the wedges. Fig. 7 is an end view of one.

Between A and B there is a depression, (marked 0,) the depth of which varies according to the size of the projectile. This depression increases from the shoulder at A to the shoulder at B. The slope c is surrounded or embraced by three wedges,- (marked 6,) corre sponding in number to the openings made to receive them. The wedges run lengthwise of O, and, commencing at the shoulder B, they end in a feather-edge at reaching two-thirds of the distance between B and A. The wedges e have projections at the bottom,-whioh play in grooves 0, cast in O, and, beginning at the base of e, extend two-thirds of the length, as at e. In the openings made to receive the plungers there are shoulders formed half an inch (more or less) from the point B toward the base of the projectile, which are intended to arrest the plungers f when they have performed their office. The heads off,being larger than their stems, are formed to rest against the shoulders, as above described.

E represents the lead belt, or rather a section of it, which surrounds the wedges e and keeps them in position. This belt is formed in the following manner: The wedges are arranged in their proper places, and then surrounded by the wire-cloth corrugated in manufacture for this purpose, the two edges overlapping each other, and secured by the wires at one end beinghooked into and fastened into the meshes of the other end. The body of the projectile thus arranged is put into a mold.

Molten lead is poured into the space between A and Bthrough an openingmadein the mold. The lead passes through the meshes of the wire sufficiently, so that the wirecloth is completely embedded and forms asolid belt of metal around the wedges. The importance of the corrugated wire-cloth, or its only equivalent, a perforated corrugated metallic band, which is embedded in the lead belt, is that, when the wedges act upon the belt and cause it to expand, the lead is not driven through the meshes of the wire, but such action serves to straighten the wire without severing it, thereby allowing the expansion of the entire belt and preserving its full strength intact, while in the case of the single coil of wire heretofore used, when the act of expansion takes place, the expansion being so instantaneous, the wire is broken or remains fixed, and in the latter case the lead is driven out and cut by the wire into as many rings as there are coils of wire embedded within the belt. In my improvement, although the lead on the outside of the wire-cloth or perforated band may be broken, yet by reason that the inner and outer portion is held by the riveting obtained through the meshes of the wire-cloth or perforations of the band, it is thought impossible (from experiments that have been had) for the lead to be thrown from the. projectile during its flight in the air.

The operation of the different parts of my projectile is as follows: The moment the gun is discharged the gases, acting on the base of the plungers, drive them forward against the wedges. The wedges are arrested in their progress at the instant the shoulders e of the projections reach the shoulders in the grooves a. At the same moment the plungers are arrested by the shoulders in the openings f, as in Fig. .3, above described. The wedges as they are forced forward expand the belt by their upward pressure and force the lead into the rifles of the gun. W'hen this object is attained, no further expansion of the lead can take place. The upward pressure ceases at the time the projections of the wedges are arrested by the shoulders of the grooves.

2' anew In using my projectile, the plungers may on I I disclaim the use of the single Wire coiled some occasions be dispensed with and the gases 1 within the lead belt; but, "suffered to act directly on the base of the Having thus described niyinvention, What I Wedges. do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat- I am aware that projectiles have been used cut, is- Where the gases have been suffered to act di- 1. The corrugated Wire web or cloth, or its rectlyupon thelead beltwithout check or liinispecified equivalent, for the purpose herein tation; but experience has proved that this ardescribed. w rangement is so completely destructive of the I 2. The combination, with the Wire-cloth and belt that it is thrown from the projectile im- I lead band, the tongued wedges and flanged mediately upon its leaving the chamber of the plungers, arrangedin the manner substantially gun. In the construction of my projectile, afas described.

tear the lalungers are placed, in order to secure I J B ATVATER them against dropping out during transportation or during the flight of the projectile after lVitnesses:

it has been fired, I hammer down the edges of I CHARLES ALEXANDER, the openings. JOHN P. JACOBS. 

